The Kingdom's Embassy in Jakarta is working with Indonesian authorities to clamp down on Al-Misfar marriages involving Saudi men and Indonesian women. Al-Misfar marriage is a term used for those who marry while traveling on a journey and is considered illegal by Saudi authorities. In a telephonic interview, Abdul Rahman Khayyat, the Kingdom's Ambassador to Indonesia, said plans are under way to deal with those people at Indonesian airports that try to arrange these types of marriages for Saudi tourists or traders. Khayyat said that Saudi nationals, who are interested in marrying Indonesian women, should approach the embassy, with consent from the Interior Ministry, so that they get married according to proper procedures. Khayyat has warned Saudi citizens traveling to Indonesia for either tourism or business, to be wary of “marriage brokers.” The move by the embassy coincides with a number of Saudi citizens being deported from Indonesia because of illegal marriages. This type of illegal actions has caused a great deal of heartache because of the hundreds of children conceived. These Saudi fathers would leave behind these children and not support them.
